Haha. Nice catch. Ultimately I decided that it would be unfair if the player was able to explicitly notice the circle had been broken, but be unable to do anything about it. I'm curious if you have a different opinion about that.
I think its fine if player character can still miss the pawprint even after double checking (throw in some should have triple checked text?). Or you could make a hidden early ending? I don't think its unfair if its acknowledged in the narration.
